


you're worth it

by Newtblythe



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Anne and Gilbert, Billy Andrews Being an Asshole, Doctor Gilbert Blythe, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 19:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21258500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Newtblythe/pseuds/Newtblythe
Summary: After posting the article about Josie, Billy dares Anne to walk on the ridgepole, and she does.*I suck at summaries, I'm sorry*





	you're worth it

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for episode 6 season 3

Anne:

She felt so dumb. How could she have believed that Gilbert, The Gilbert Blythe, was her destiny? How could she have believed someone would love her like that? It was so stupid.

The dance meant nothing to him when it meant everything to her. How their bodies floated with the music, how their hands interlaced and fitted perfectly in each other's, like their hands were made for each other.

But now whatever they had was gone.

When they danced again their spark and chemistry was like it never existed, like it had all been a dream. Because Gilbert Blythe only had eyes for a certain girl. And it was not Anne. Instead it was Winnie, a blond and elegant woman who seemed so perfect, too perfect.

And the worst thing was that she seemed like a kindred spirit. Maybe that’s why Gilbert liked her.

The romance in his eyes was nothing but a lie.

And it hurt her, to think Gilbert Blythe could be her life mate. She recalled what she had said about him to Diana, it all had been dreams of an innocent girl who was foolishly in love. Now she felt nothing.

He didn’t even care what had happened to Josie, no one seemed to, but she was more mad at him because she thought of all the people in the room he would be the one that would have understood the most.

He had no interest in it.

And Anne was planning on making Billy pay.

∆∆∆

She walked towards the school, determined to write an article about what had happened to Josie. At first she didn’t know what had happened, since she came into the barn looking a little shaken. But then as Anne started to fix her hair she noticed there were pieces of wood on her dress and how tense she felt.

She knew what had happened, as she had suffered because of it in the orphanage. Josie was a victim, like her.

She walked up to Billy Andrews, Josie didn’t deserve this, sure she was sometimes mean to her, but over the years they became friends and enjoyed each other's presence.

She had yelled at him, and everyone had looked towards them. But she didn’t care, she wanted Billy to feel small and scared. He just seemed mad. But at least it had worked on letting most of her feelings out because of a certain boy with hazel eyes.

So on she walked, she would post an article of what had happened on the school’s newspaper, to open the little town’s eyes and see why Josie shouldn’t be blamed.

When she arrived, the red headed immediately started writing, mentioning why Josie’s reputation should not be ruined, about why women should not be blamed, and her experiences with it. She described what it felt like to be a victim. That was the hardest part to write. Since it triggered something in her. Memories came flooding back to her, and she felt like she was drowning in them. Every one of them making her sink deeper. The article being the only thing that kept her afloat.

She finally printed it with the machine that Miss. Stacy and Matthew had repaired together.

And she added it to the newspaper.

◇◇◇

She was walking to school again, feeling proud of what she had done, and ready to post more articles.

It was hot as the sun had come out to play with the wind, which instead was dancing with the trees, Anne felt like the sun, while Gilbert was the wind and Winnie was the trees. That’s how it had been, Gilbert only had eyes for Miss. Rose that day, and Anne was left in the forgotten.

She stared at the floor since she didn’t want to remember it anymore.

At some point she heard someone call her name, and not in a good way.

“Anne Shirley.” Said Billy.

Oh, no. Thought Anne.

“I read your article.”

Wait… Billy knows how to read?

“And let me tell you something. You weren’t there, so how would you know what happened?”

“Because I’ve seen it before.” She told him, her head high, to show him she wasn’t scared of him.

“Ok, freak, what if we make a deal,” Billy started saying. “You get rid of the article or tell everyone that everything was a lie, and I leave Josie alone.”

Anne considered it for a second, but she knew better than to trust Billy Andrews.

“No.” She said. “Besides, the article is too important to be said that it is a lie.”

Billy just stared at her, and for a moment she thought of turning away and pretend this had never happened. But then he continued talking. “Ok, so how about if you walk on the school’s ridgepole from one end to another and I leave Josie alone.” he finished.

This seemed like a better deal, but Anne wouldn’t take it, she still felt he would break his promise, and she was about to say no but-

“Unless you’re scared.”

Those words came to her ears, then to her mind, and finally to her blood, making it boil. He had gotten into her temper, and now she wanted to prove herself.

“Fine, but you promise, and not break it.” must promise and not break it.”

They made a promise with consideration, which means that she must promise him something in exchange of his own. He crossed his heart, which made it official and started walking ahead to the school. Anne followed far behind.

◇◇◇

When they arrived at the school, no one was there.

That’s good, Anne thought

“All right.” started saying Billy. “I’ll go look for a ladder, you stay here,” And with that he left.

Anne stared at the ridgepole, was that even walkable? It was rather thin, like really thin. She suddenly felt herself go pale, what if she fell? What if she fell and died? Oh, she must have said something to Matthew and Marilla. Would Marilla cry at her funeral? At least if she died she would die protecting her friend and honor.

“Hello there.” Said a voice that now tormented Anne.

Oh, no.

She immediately turned around, suddenly feeling shy. “Hello, Gilbert”

Why was he here?

“Because I go to school here. Although right now it is because of the newspaper.”

She felt herself go red. She had said that aloud.

Then she remembered how he didn’t care about what had happened to Josie Pye and how he had stared at Miss. Rose during the dance. And all the shyness that she had transformed to anger and hurt.

“Anne are you ok?” He asked.

In that moment Billy came with the ladder, Anne had never been happier to see his dumb face than at this moment.

“What is that for?” Asked Gilbert.

Anne didn’t answer, instead Billy did.

“It’s for Anne to get to the roof and then to the ridgepole.” said Billy smiling.

“She is doing what?!” Exclaimed the boy with the hazel eyes, concern in his voice.

Anne’s heart felt soft when noticing the concern in his voice, but quickly remembered the day at the fair and her heart felt like a stone towards him.

She would not fall for Gilbert Blythe again in her life.

Billy started placing the ladder to one side. What no one noticed was that he had a stupid grin on his face, planning what he would do once Anne was on the ridgepole.

When he was done, she stared at the ladder for a few seconds, still unsure if she should do it or not. Finally, she walked to it, when she felt a hand on her arm, pulling her.

“Anne, don’t do this, you could get hurt.” Said Gilbert, staring at her with pleading eyes.

“I’m sorry, Gilbert, but I have to protect my friend and my honor.” She said, not feeling sorry at all. And with that she started climbing. Gilbert and Billy just stared as she got higher and higher. One looked at her with worry while the other did with evilness.

When she finally reached the ridgepole, she stood up on it to catch her balance; she felt how the wind threatened to push her but helped her. She looked at the surroundings and saw mostly trees. And it was beautiful, although nothing could ever be more beautiful that the view that the air balloon had given to her, Matthew, and Marilla.

And so she started, she extended her arms to guide and help her. Her heart was shaking, just a little, but enough to want her to come down and kiss the ground. Unlike the air balloon, the ridgepole had nothing to hold on to. But she continued, trying her best to look fearless.

She was at the middle when she felt something hit her back hard, like a rock and with that she lost balance.

She started falling and heard someone scream her name, while another one was just laughing, and another one was screaming, which was her. She had failed her friend and her honor, she would have to live with her pride humiliated. She suddenly saw the end of the roof and felt a sharp pain in her head, and everything went black.

■■■

Gilbert:

His heart skipped a few beats when she started falling, he wanted to run and bring her to safety, but he was paralyzed, he felt impotent, and was holding his breath.

He looked over at Billy who was laughing, he never wanted to punch someone so hard before. And before he knew it the boy with hazel eyes was screaming her name. He saw how her head hit the end of the roof and she immediately stopped screaming, her body going numb. That’s when he started running towards her.

As she hit the floor, her leg made a sound. He was at her side almost immediately, cursing himself for not being any faster, and held her arms. She didn’t open her eyes.

Concussion, he thought.

At that moment he turned around to ask Billy to go for help, but he was nowhere to be seen. He was mad, but right now his only worry was Anne, he saw how she had a bit of blood on her forehead, and more on her leg.

He brought her to his house and there he would take care of her leg. Mrs. Stacy would not be in school today since she trusted her students.

He put one on his arms under her back and the other under her leg, trying not to move it too much, and carried her in bridal style. She was not heavy, so it was easy to carry her.

Gilbert couldn’t help but look at her face, which looked in peace, he could count the freckles that reminded him of galaxies, each freckle a dream and story that she had. He hoped that he could treat her, maybe he should go for Dr. Ward in Charlottetown.

Charlottetown…

He remembered what Anne had said to him the day before. “What’s your hurry, need to catch a train to Charlottetown.” Anne had being weird after meeting Winnie. He couldn’t figure out why. Maybe she disliked her. Or maybe because she was a grown woman and Anne was still a girl. Although she had grown quite a lot since he met her. Not only in height, but also in heart.

When they arrived at Green Gables, his legs were aching and his arms were begging him to let go of her. But he didn’t, he kept holding on.

Mr. Cuthbert came into view and when he saw Anne he came fast towards him. Gilbert told him he could carry her to the house and then go fetch the doctor after he checked her leg. Mr. Cuthbert agreed and opened the door got him to get in.

Miss. Cuthbert saw and showed him where he could lay Anne. When he did his arms were thanking him. But he didn’t care, he just cared about Anne at the moment. He cleaned the wound on her head and checked her leg. Definitely broken. He asked Miss. Cuthbert if he could have a pillow and she gave it to him. He placed it carefully under her leg, washed the wound, and then left to fetch the doctor.

☆☆☆

Anne:

She woke up with a little headache, feeling a sharp pain in her leg. She sat up and saw her leg; it had a bandage on.

Oh, nonononono...

“Anne.” She heard a woman’s voice say.

“Marilla, what happened?”

“What happened was that you climbed a roof to get to a ridgepole and then fell and broke your leg.” Said Marilla mad at her.

Anne’s face fell. Broken? In the summer.

“You were lucky Gilbert was there to help you. God bless that boy.” Marilla continued, unaware of Anne’s face.

“Gilbert?” Was the only thing that came out of her mouth.

“He came to visit you while the doctor was here. He said he would come by today to check on you.”

Anne didn’t understand, was it possible that after all he had feelings for her…

No, he was courting Miss Rose. It wasn’t possible; he was just being kind, like always.

“I will start making breakfast.” Said Marilla, leaving the room.

As she left the room, Anne stared into the window out to the tree. She didn’t know what to do, why was he being so nice to her when she had been so rude to him, and after all that happened.

Why was he always messing up her life, either a good way or a bad way? She didn’t know if she hated him or liked him anymore, sometimes he got into her nerves and other times he was sweet and kind to her. They tell you that when you find love; it is magical and you instantly now that you are meant to be with each other. But at the moment Anne wasn’t so sure. She had felt a connection when they danced, but maybe she was the only one, and for Gilbert it was all a game and a way to confuse her feelings.

Why is love so difficult? It makes you happy, sad, angry, and sometimes all of them combined. It’s a hard feeling to find, and when you find it, is even harder to solve it.

So Anne lay there, unable to do anything but think about the boy with hazel eyes that made her suffer but love.

♡♡♡

A few hours later someone knocked on her door.

“Come in.” She said looking up from the book that Diana had lent her when she came to visit her earlier.

Gilbert came into view covering half of his face with the door. “Hey, I just wanted to see how you were doing.” He seemed a little shy, and that woke something on her, since she knew that he was not shy.

“I’m doing well, thank you. How about you?” The ocean eyed girl asked.

“Good, well is great that you are feeling well, so I’m just going to go.” the dark-haired boy said, starting to close the door behind him.

“Wait!” She suddenly exclaimed.

He stopped. She could sense something was off in him. She just couldn’t figure out what it was.

“How was the newspaper meeting?” She asked.

“It was good. Well, bye.” He started to close the door again.

Then it clicked. He was lying; she knew this since he never lied, so it wasn’t in his nature to lie.

“What’s wrong? Why do you want to leave so bad?”

“It’s nothing, I just have to help Bash with Delphine.”

It was in part true.

“No, there is something else.” She felt even worse now because he didn’t trust her enough to tell her.

He must have felt that because he quickly said. “Anne, I trust you, but you don’t need more worries in your life.”

She wasn’t satisfied with his answer.

“Gilbert you are my friend.” She said the last word with hurt. “I care about you. And right now all I got to worry about is my leg.” Which was a lie.

He stood there for a moment, thinking and finally opened the door, letting himself in. He was bruised and had a black eye which was a little closed and swollen. He stared and her and scratched the back of his neck, chuckling nervously. “Not very good, right?”

She gazed at him with her mouth a little open. “Gilbert, what happened?”

He now looked down, ashamed, he wasn’t proud of what he had done, but he didn’t regret it. “So I noticed how Billy left us when you fell. And I went out to him today asking why he didn’t stay and helped.” His eyes now were meeting hers. “He told me that because he felt bad for throwing a rock at you, which was the thing that made you lose your balance. I knew he wasn’t sorry at all, because he started making fun about it.” He went quiet.

Then Anne knew.

“So I punched him… In the nose, I think it broke… But I’m not sure since he started hitting me back.” He finished, pointing out at his eye. “So Yeah…”

Anne was speechless, she never imagined Gilbert hitting someone, even less punching them and breaking their nose.

“But, why would you do that?” The freckled girl asked.

“Two years ago, Billy was saying… Not so good thing about you, I told him that if he ever hassled you again, he would regret it. That day I also got into a fight with him, but it wasn’t so bad. And he hassled you again, so I had to make him pay.”

“So you hassled him because of me but not because of Josie?”

Gilbert’s face fell a little. “Listen, I didn’t know what happened at the moment, but I read your article.” He said, looking at her with sad eyes. “And it was great, it opened my eyes. But Anne, did that really happened to you?”

Anne remained quiet for a second, she felt how her heart started beating a little faster. “Yes.” She whispered, so quiet that Gilbert almost didn’t catch it.

He came closer to her and sat down next to her, he grabbed her hand, his knuckles red, sending chills to her body, and started rubbing his finger in circles through it, as a way of saying: “I’m sorry.”

She gazed up at him and gave him a small smile. He smiled back and looked at her with those eyes, the eyes she thought were of romance, when it was just a friendly gaze. It was during these when she remembered the dance, and how she felt. It was happening again. But she wouldn’t let herself fall for him again. So she moved her hand to her lap and joined it with her other hand.

He looked at her for a moment and finally asked. “Anne, what’s wrong? Since the day at the fair you have been… Distant. Was is something I did or said?”

She kept staring at her hands, playing with them. She wanted to leave so bad, to go to another room and get rid of any memories of him, to forget him and those forest eyes, to forget his dark hair in which she wanted to run her hand on to feel his curls. To forget that she loved him.

She felt how he kept staring at her. And she stared back, having a fight with herself. So she told him.

Gilbert:

“Anne, what’s wrong? Since the day at the fair you have been… Distant. Was is something I did or said?”

She didn’t pay attention to him, she just stared at her hands.

Her face was blank, but he knew that she was thinking, he could see it in her eyes. He liked her eyes because he felt that he could drown in them and not staring at them didn’t appeal to him. He also felt that he could read them like a book, although sometimes they were like poetry, difficult to read, but had a special meaning in them.

She seemed to decide, and that’s when she talked. “At the fair, remember how I said that I wished you and Miss. Rose every happiness.” Gilbert was confused on what Winnie had to do with anything but nodded. “W-well I thought at the fair, that… you… were my destiny.” She said the last part quickly. “So I thought that I we were meant to be together. But then I saw you with Miss. Rose… and I felt heartbroken, and the barn dance didn’t help…” Anne was now staring at the floor. “And I don’t know, when we danced in the school, it felt… different… I felt that we had a connection, like everyone else faded and it was just you and me… and every time we touched it was like sparkles. Like we were each other’s destiny…”

As Anne described how the dance felt to her, a book of revelations opened in from of him, and he realized that Winnie was not the one meant to be his.

It was Anne.

He related to the way she had felt. And how with Winnie he felt nothing, sure she was a good friend, but not a lover, she didn’t have that spark that illuminated his world like Anne did.

“Like we had a connection.” He said, hoping that his eyes could express his realizations.

She looked at him with lovely eyes. “Yes…”

And at that moment he joined his lips with hers. He felt how she was taken aback, but then melt in his lips and kissed him back. The spark they had in the dance was nothing compared to what he felt now.

When they separated, they touched their foreheads with each other's. He stared at her eyes, and she stared at his, emotions flooding through them, and he felt as if he was drowning in them.

“I thought if I was with Winnie, it would be easier, she is easy to be with.” He started to explain to her. “And I’ve tried to be with you for so long, but didn’t notice. I was so blind. I now know that I want to be with you.”

“But what about Miss. Rose, won’t she be disappointed?” She asked.

“I don’t think there was something between us, we are just friends. But I’ll write to her.” The curly-haired boy answered. “There couldn’t be anyone else for me but you. And I promise that I will support you on anything from now on.”

She grabbed his cheek and gave him a soft peck on the lips. “But don’t become my shadow, from now and then just contradict me if you don’t agree. And I'll do the same. She reached his eye and rubbed her thumb beside it. “I’m sorry that you’re hurt because of me.”

He looked at her and hoped that his love for her could be seen through them. “You’re worth it.”

And with that their romance started, although they didn’t know it, but it started longer than that. It started when he pulled her braid and called her “carrots” and she whacked him on the head with her slate. Not knowing that the annoying boy would become her rival, friend, crush, lover, and husband.

And on the journey, they supported each other, she on his career of becoming a doctor, and him on her dream to bring justice to the world.

They became equals and partners, not just husband and wife, and called themselves life mates. Because they were worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween, everyone!
> 
> Hope you enjoy it. I didn't like the ending, but I didn't know what else to out on there, sorry.
> 
> Have a good day!
> 
> Josie deserves a hug and Gilbert doesn't deserve the hate that he is getting.


End file.
